1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless and long distance carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), and information content delivery servicesIproviders and long distance carriers. More particularly, it relates to Wireless TeleCommunication, ANSI-41 Automatic Registration applications, and hot-lining applications.
2. Background of Related Art
In recent years, the telecommunication industry has seen an explosive growth both in the number of the types of wireless services offered and in the number of wireless service providers. Among those numerous services now being offered, prepaid call service may be one of the fastest growing segments in the telecommunication industry today.
Whether prepaid or postpaid, wireless services in general, and prepaid call services in particular, often make use of a feature referred to as xe2x80x9chot-liningxe2x80x9d. Hot-lining routes a telephone call request from a mobile device to a particular telephone number no matter what telephone number was dialed by the mobile device.
In prepaid applications, hot-lining is particularly important, e.g., to allow real-time rating of the desired telephone call by the home service provider. For instance, once hot-lined to a common telephone number, the service provider may audibly prompt the mobile device from the common telephone number for a mobile identification number (MIN), personal identification number (PIN), etc.
Another example of hot-lining in prepaid applications may be to direct a subscriber to a telephone number of a pre-recorded message after their prepaid account has been drawn down to the point that it reflects insufficient prepaid funds remaining.
As yet another example, hot-lining may be used to simplify the initial provisioning of a new mobile device. For instance, any first call from a new mobile telephone may be directed to an operator who will assist the new subscriber in provisioning their mobile telephone.
Hot-lining is conventionally defined in an applicable wireless telephone standard, commonly referred to as IS-41. The conventional IS-41 hot-lining feature allows the designation of one hot-line telephone number. All originating calls that are to be hot-lined must be routed using this designated telephone number.
Convention hot-line numbers are fixed, i.e., cannot be changed automatically. When a wireless call is to be hot-lined, it is conventionally routed based on the pre-designated hot-line telephone number provisioned in the home location register (HLR) for that particular mobile subscriber. When the subscriber roams to a network that is outside the home network, call origination placed by that subscriber is routed over long distance carriers back to the home network, then allowing the hot-lining to proceed based on the subscriber""s service provider""s pre-designation of a hot-line telephone number for that subscriber.
While serving a very useful purpose, conventional hot-lining systems and techniques tend to be costly for a mobile subscriber, particularly when they roam far from the wireless intelligent network (WIN) or call center of their wireless service provider.
There is a need for an improved technique and architecture which provides a lower cost hot-lining solution, particularly with respect to wireless devices when they roam far from the location of their WIN platform or call center.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a WIN application in a wireless intelligent network includes a hot-line lookup table comprising a plurality of entries. Each of the entries associating a service providing messaging service center ID with at least one particular hot-line telephone number. The service providing messaging service center is associated with a roaming mobile station visiting a messaging service center in the wireless intelligent network.
A method of automatically assigning one of a plurality of hot-line numbers to an incoming call from roaming mobile device in accordance with another aspect of the present invention comprises forwarding a REGNOT message from a home location register associated with the roaming mobile device to an application running on a wireless intelligent network (WIN) platform. A unique identification of a home wireless intelligent network of the roaming mobile device is retrieved. One of a plurality of different hot-line numbers is selected based on a match to the unique identification of the home wireless intelligent network.